the new russian nationalismship as promoting Russia’s economic growth. In fact, Putin’s
initials based on his first, middle and last names (VVP) have been
frequently evoked in mainstream (that is, Kremlin- sanctioned)
Russian media’s economic discourses referring to the identically
sounding Russian abbreviation for GDP (VVP).
Responsiveness to Putin – a proxy for Putin’s capacity to
change the public’s views on social and political issues – was
assessed with a split- sample experiment embedded in the
questionnaires used in Moscow, Krasnodar and Vladivostok.
A random selection of half of the respondents in these polls
were asked: ‘Let us now talk a little about ethnic relations in
Russia. Do you believe the ethnic diversity of Russia’s popula-
tion strengthens or weakens our country?’ The remaining half of
respondents were asked the same question, but after a different
introduction: ‘Putin claims that the ethnic diversity of Russia’s
population strengthens our country.’ Responses were coded as 1
= ‘strengthens’, 2 = ‘somewhat strengthens, somewhat weakens’
and 3 = ‘weakens’. The interviewers rotated these versions of the
questions, so if one respondent was asked the original question,
the next respondent was asked the same question, but with a
Putin cue.^13
For all these variables, frequencies were computed to examine
substantive similarities and differences on the issues of interest
between the ethnic Russian and non- Russian sub- samples. The
statistical significance (that is, the likelihood of occurrence due to
chance alone) was assessed with independent- samples t- tests and,
in the split- sample experiment, with one- sample t- tests. Additional
tests controlled for differences in sub- sample size.
The results: Minorities no constraint on Russian
expansionism, despite latent grievances
The principal finding was that ethnic identity had limited effects.
Ethnic non- Russian respondents were almost as likely as ethnic
Russian ones to support Russian territorial expansion to include
all of Ukraine and Belarus (Slavic Union); they were about
equally proud of their ethnic identity and Russian citizenship,
about equally likely to have voted for Putin in 2012 and in 2013